Cline, Yeley enter Charlotte event

Cline, Yeley Entered at Lowe's Dirt Track

Troy Cline of Mooresville, N.C. and J.J. Yeley of Phoenix, Ariz. hope to carry over success from the 2003 season to Wednesday's "Mopar Sprint Car Nationals," featuring the USAC Valvoline National Sprint Car Series at the The Dirt Track at Lowe's Motor Speedway. Both drivers are entered for the mid-week event, which opens four exciting nights of racing in the middle of stock car country, and is a prelude to the UAW-GM Quality 500 on Oct. 16.

Cline won last year's event at the 4/10-mile dirt oval his first in USAC competition but has not fared well since. In three USAC series starts in 2004, Cline managed a ninth in July at the Terre Haute (Ind.) Action Track. He will drive the No. 62 Ingersol-Rand Company car for Bill Biddle on Wednesday, teaming with Greg Price of Roseburg, Oregon, who has accepted sponsorship from Randy LaJoie for the No. 26 machine.

"We planned on running the whole season, but in the first five races we used up just about everything we had, so we about called it quits," Cline said. "Then I ran for Bill for awhile and we didn't do too bad, and I think this is a great opportunity for me. I think we can win with this car; I wouldn't have taken the job if I didn't think we could."

"This is pretty big for me. I've got all my friends and fellow workers here. It'll be nice to drive again in front of all of them again. It will be nice to have a short drive and not have to drive 11 hours to get to a race. Our shop is only about a half-mile from the track, so this is a big race for me."

Yeley, the defending series champion who locked up the 2003 title at Lowe's, is coming off a 2003 campaign in which he won 24 USAC features, including 13 points-paying events in the sprint cars. Despite running a schedule of ARCA and NASCAR Nextel Cup and Busch events in 2004, Yeley has made 10 sprint car starts this year, winning twice both at dirt tracks. Yeley, who finished third in the sprint car race at Lowe's last year, will drive the No. 75 Mopar machine for Gary Stanton.

Jay Drake of Val Verde, Calif. leads the series standings by 117 points over Bud Kaeding of Campbell, Calif. heading into Wednesday's festivities, with practice at 6:30 p.m., followed by qualifying at 6:45 and racing at 8.

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